"I shrunk the kids. And the Thompson kids too. They're about this big. They're in the backyard." On A Look On the Plus Side, we pull a different movie or TV show each week, tell you the history and details, give our review, and discuss its connections to the theme parks we love! The Disney movie that got an entire playground before it even left theaters for a year! 🌿 Join us LIVE as we go back to 1989 for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, the sleeper hit that became the highest-grossing live-action Disney film ever (a record it held for five years) and somehow spun off two sequels, a TV show, and attractions on two different coasts. We're breaking down Rick Moranis as Wayne Szalinski, the practical effects that still hold up, and why a movie about killer ants and a runaway lawn sprinkler became a Disney Decade cornerstone. Then we head into the parks, because this franchise left its fingerprints on both Disney's Hollywood Studios and EPCOT, plus a whole trilogy and TV series we never talk about enough. What we cover: THE FILM (HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS, 1989): ✅ Rick Moranis as the original lovable, distracted inventor ✅ The shrink ray backstory and the accident that kicks everything off ✅ The kids' journey through the backyard, ants, bees, sprinklers and all ✅ Practical effects and scale work in a pre-CGI world ✅ Box office: $222.7 million worldwide, the highest-grossing live-action Disney film at the time ✅ Critical reception and why it became a genuine sleeper hit ✅ How it kicked off Michael Eisner's "Disney Decade" push ✅ Does it hold up today? HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS AT DISNEY-MGM STUDIOS: ✅ Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: Movie Set Adventure opened December 17, 1990, less than a year and a half after the film ✅ 11,000 square feet of giant blades of grass, ants, and a giant dog nose to climb through ✅ Located in the Streets of America area ✅ Sponsored by Kodak ✅ Ran for over 25 years before closing April 2, 2016 ✅ Outlasted every sequel, the TV show, and the EPCOT attraction combined ✅ Demolished to make way for Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge HONEY, I SHRUNK THE AUDIENCE AT EPCOT: ✅ The 4D film spin-off opened November 21, 1994 in the Imagination Pavilion ✅ Replaced Captain EO, then was itself replaced by Captain EO's return in 2010 ✅ The shaking, gimbal-mounted theater and in-theater effects ✅ Also played at Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland (as MicroAdventure!) and Disneyland Paris ✅ Closed May 9, 2010 at EPCOT THE BROADER FRANCHISE: ✅ Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992): the toddler-to-50-feet sequel set in Las Vegas, opened #1 at the box office ✅ Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves (1997): the direct-to-video threequel where it's the parents who get shrunk this time ✅ Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show (1997-2000): 66 episodes across 3 seasons in first-run syndication, with Peter Scolari taking over as Wayne ✅ A fourth film, Shrunk, has been stuck in development limbo since 2019 Whether you grew up climbing through that giant backyard at Disney-MGM Studios, remember getting rocked around in your seat at EPCOT, or you're just discovering how far this franchise reached, join us LIVE as we review the movie that started it all and dig into its surprisingly big theme park legacy! Did you ever play on the Movie Set Adventure? Do you remember Honey, I Shrunk the Audience? Join the LIVE chat! 🔔 Subscribe for more film reviews and Disney Parks deep dives! 📱 Follow us everywhere: @ParkAdvClub Visit: https://lookontheplusside.com/ We're here every Wednesday night at 9:00 PM (ET) for a new episode!
